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According to the New York Times, China may have built up to 110 nuclear silos.
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Researchers believe that the new silo could carry more than 875 warheads.
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China is the third largest nuclear power country in the world, but its arsenal is still dwarfed by the United States and Russia.
Chinese scientists say China is building a network of nuclear silos that can accommodate up to 110 silos in remote deserts in the eastern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. American Federation of Scientists (FAS), a non-profit global think tank.
As originally reported by New York Times Scientists said on Monday that construction was likely to have started around March of this year.Use satellite imagery from a geospatial data company Star, They found at least 14 silos and vacated the site to build an additional 19 silos. Judging from the network grid, it can accommodate as many as 110 silos.
These underground silos are typically used to house intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), long-range missiles designed to carry nuclear weapons.
The latest revelation follows the discovery of 119 new silos under construction near Yumen in Gansu Province, northwestern China last month. Washington post Reported using satellite imagery from James Martin Center for Non-Diffusion Studies in Monterey..
“The construction of silos in Yumen and Hami constitutes the most important expansion of China’s nuclear weapons to date,” wrote FAS researchers Matt Korda and Hans M. Kristensen in them. study..
However, Chinese nuclear experts dismissed the Washington Post’s report on the discovery of a nuclear base under construction, and former PLA instructor Son Zombin said nuclear silos were outdated. South China Morning Post..
Without denying the possibility of China’s nuclear expansion program, Mr. Song said, “China has already used mobile launchers and abandoned these fixed silos. These are time-consuming, labor-intensive, costly and attacking. And are vulnerable to destruction. “
If all of these are equipped with missiles, “once the Yumen and Hami missile silofields are complete, China’s ICBMs could carry more than 875 warheads,” the researchers said. FAS research.
Replying to the insider by email, Kristensen, director of FAS’s nuclear information project, agreed that the silo was vulnerable because it was stationary and could easily be attacked. But he added that attacks could also be detected, and the “solution” was “building a missile that could react fast enough to get out of the silo before it was destroyed.”
When asked if silos were considered obsolete technology, Kristensen said, “Today, some of the latest missiles are actually deployed in silos, so they are never considered old.” ..
Despite recent expansion, China is unlikely to compete with nuclear superpowers like Russia and the United States.by International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, China 350 Nuclear weapons lag far behind Russia 6,225 And that 5,550 Built by the United States.
And even “when the current modernization is complete,” FAS researcher Hans Kristensen told insiders that China is unlikely to catch up.
Kristensen also warned that many unanswered questions remained, such as the number and type of missiles deployed from silos. And more fundamentally, “Why are the Chinese building these silos?”
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